SB Nation User Blog: Chris Nelson

Dave Meltzer joins ESPN's Bill Simmons on The B.S. Report to break down UFC 100, talk about the...

Chris Nelson — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:27:45 -0000

Dave Meltzer joins ESPN's Bill Simmons on The B.S. Report to break down UFC 100, talk about the rise of the UFC and its impact on WWE.

Despite Indefinite Suspension, Kazuo Misaki Will Fight at Sengoku IX

Chris Nelson — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:44:08 -0000

World Victory Road held a press conference at J-Rock headquarters on Thursday to announce the fate of Kazuo Misaki following last week's guilty plea and probation sentence on a count of interference with a public servant. The short-term good news is that Misaki will still be able to participate in his August 2nd middleweight title eliminator bout with Kaz Nakamura. The bad news, however, is that the Sengoku executive committee has decided that Misaki will be indefinitely suspended beginning August 3rd - meaning Misaki won't get a rematch with Jorge Santiago even if he wins - with his entire purse from the Nakamura fight to be withheld and donated to charity. With this verdict, it seems a fairly safe bet that we'll be seeing the "Grabaka Hitman" back in the Strikeforce cage before long.

Ryo Chonan, Masakazu Imanari Return to DEEP

Chris Nelson — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:02:55 -0000

Five fighters took to the ring during the intermission of Tuesday night's DEEP "42nd Impact" at Korakuen Hall, which saw Riki Fukuda (15-4) crowned as the new middleweight champion and the seemingly reborn Kazuyuki Miyata (7-7) improve his current win streak to two. (Full results at Japan-MMA.)

Following his elimination in the second round of DREAM's featherweight tournament, Masakazu Imanari (16-7-1, second from left) will return to DEEP on August 23rd to defend his bantamweight title against 2009 DEEP Protect Cup winner Tomohiko Hori (10-4-3, far left). Meanwhile, the man who handed Imanari his last loss in DEEP, featherweight ace Dokonjonosuke Mishima (19-6-2, second from right), will take on another former DREAM FWGP participant, AACC's Takafumi Otsuka (8-4-1, center) in a title bout. Finally, DEEP legend Ryo Chonan (15-10) will make his return to Japan in the promotion which made him after a disappointing 1-3 run in the UFC; his opponent has yet to be announced.

Top image via Kamipro; more after the jump from Sportsnavi.

Miyata suplexes Takeshi Yamazaki

New champ Fukuda

Sengoku Gold Cup Lightweight (70kg) Finals Koji Ando (2-0-2) vs. Ikuo Usuda (4-0) at Sengoku...

Chris Nelson — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:16:18 -0000

Sengoku Gold Cup Lightweight (70kg) Finals
Koji Ando (2-0-2) vs. Ikuo Usuda (4-0) at Sengoku IX

The match was announced on Sunday's episode of SENGOKU-G!, where they also showed both fighters' semifinal bouts. Ando overwhelmed debuting SK Absolute product Kohei Maruyama with punches to score a quick TKO victory in the opening frame.

Following an uneventful first round, Usuda took top position on Kota Okazawa and unleashed some ground and pound which appeared to break the ZST fighter's nose and forced a referee stoppage.

Miku Matsumoto (21-4) celebrates in the ring (with likely future opponent Megumi Fujii) after...

Chris Nelson — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:32:50 -0000

Miku Matsumoto (21-4) celebrates in the ring (with likely future opponent Megumi Fujii) after retaining her DEEP lightweight women's title at "DEEP Toyama Impact" on Sunday. Miku wiped the final unavenged loss from her record when she armbarred Lisa Ward (12-5) at 2:53 of the third frame; the Club Barbarian fighter has now won 11 straight, with only one fight going the distance.

Photo via Sportsnavi

Hironaka TKO's Nagata at Cage Force 11

Chris Nelson — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:27:36 -0000

UFC and DREAM vet Kuniyoshi Hironaka got his second win in as many months at Saturday's Cage Force 11 in Tokyo, dropping former Olympic wrestler Katsuhiko Nagata with a right straight before finishing him off at 3:41 of the opening frame. Afterward, Hironaka made an appeal for a match against Cage Force lightweight ace Mizuto Hirota.

The ADCC-bound "K-Taro" Nakamura and PRIDE vet Daiju Takase picked up decision wins, while Yusuke Sakashita - a recent addition to Yoshihiro Akiyama's Team Cloud - was dropped in 17 seconds by Wajyutsu Keisyukai's Yuta Nakamura.

Full results below; photo via Kamipro.

LW: Kuniyoshi Hironaka (14-6) def. Katsuhiko Nagata (4-6-1) via TKO (Punches) at 3:41 of Round 1
WW: Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura (16-4-2 def. Tomoyoshi Iwamiya (6-9) via Decision (Majority)
MW: Daiju Takase (8-13-1) def. Shuji Morikawa (2-3-1) via Decision (Split)
MW: Kozo Urita (7-11-1) def. Shahriar Abbasov (0-1) via TKO (Doctor Stoppage) at 1:11 of Round 2
BW: Isao Terada (6-7-4) def. Yuta Nezu (7-3-1) via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 0:13 of Round 3
WW: Teruhiko Kubo (7-9-1) def. Keitaro Maeda (3-5-1) via TKO (Punches) at 3:04 of Round 1
LHW: Yuta Nakamura (5-5-1) def. Yusuke Sakashita (5-2) via TKO (Punches) at 0:17 of Round 1
Feather: "Randleman" Ichikawa (3-3) def. Tomoyuki Miyaji (4-3) via TKO (Punches) at 0:14 of Round 1
BW: Masato Kobayashi (3-0) def. Nobuo Kawana (1-1) via Decision (Unanimous)
WW: Yusaku Inoue (2-0) def. Yusuke Horimoto (0-2-2) via TKO (Doctor Stoppage) at the end of Round 2

UPDATE: Tony Loiseleur has a report up at Sherdog:

“If I get a chance to fight Cage Force’s lightweight champion, Mizuto Hirota, I’d [win and] defend the belt for 10 years and can die happy, I think,” Hironaka said. “I’d also like to go back to America again, to challenge myself. Since I was born a man, I want to challenge myself against the strongest.”

Fedor and Aleksander Emelianenko training together in Stary Oskol More at mixfight.ru

Chris Nelson — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:34:33 -0000

Fedor and Aleksander Emelianenko training together in Stary Oskol

More at mixfight.ru

Kazuo Misaki (left, with Sengoku representative Takahiro Kokuho) publicly apologized today for a...

Chris Nelson — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:35:21 -0000

Kazuo Misaki (left, with Sengoku representative Takahiro Kokuho) publicly apologized today for a March incident in which he struck and sped away from a Tokyo police officer who attempted to cite him for talking on his cell phone while driving. The "Grabaka Hitman" was found guilty on Thursday and sentenced to three years probation plus community service. Kokuho commented that no decision had been made of yet on Misaki's status for his August 2nd title eliminator bout against Kaz Nakamura, but said that Misaki training hard and putting on a good fight would help mend his relationship with the public.

via GBRing

UPDATE: Slight correction - Misaki entered a plea of guilty, according to MMAJunkie.

Thai Center's Alex Cobra returns to MMA on Thursday against Felipe Olivieri at Watch Out Combat...

Chris Nelson — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:25:31 -0000

Thai Center's Alex Cobra returns to MMA on Thursday against Felipe Olivieri at Watch Out Combat Show 4.

HL via Tatame

Sengoku's Satoshi Ishii on the cover of Kamipro #136

Chris Nelson — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:29:53 -0000

Sengoku's Satoshi Ishii on the cover of Kamipro #136